Published 12:00 am, Monday, June 1, 2009

A newly seated Hardin County grand jury will take a second look at evidence collected in the alleged sexual assault of a Silsbee cheerleader last October.

``The grand jury on its own initiative decided to re-hear the case later this month,'' Hardin County District Attorney David Sheffield told The Enterprise Monday by phone.

A separate grand jury refused to indict three Silsbee teens after it heard the case in January, citing a lack of evidence. The new grand jury was seated in April.

On Oct. 19, 2008, the 16-year-old cheerleader told police she was raped by three Silsbee athletes, Christian Roundtree, 18, Rahkeem Bolton, 17, and a 16-year-old, who was never named because he is a juvenile.

The new grand jury set a special June 9 session to hear the case, but that was later postponed after officials learned the main investigator in the case would be out of the state and unavailable for testimony, Sheffield said.

A new date has not yet been set for the special session, but Sheffield said the meeting will likely take place some time between June 22-26.

In the special session, grand jury members are expected to re-examine case evidence and again speak with witnesses in the case.

The cheerleader testified in the January hearing and is expected to testify again at the new hearing.

Sheffield said evidence and witness statements have not changed since the first grand jury heard the case.

"There was a thorough investigation conducted by the Silsbee Police Department and I'm sure they will look at all the evidence," Sheffield said.

Any indictments on possible charges would be at the sole discretion of the new grand jury, he said.

If criminal charges are filed in the case, Sheffield said a pending federal lawsuit naming him as a defendant prohibits him from prosecuting the case.

He added that he would ask for a special prosecutor to take his place.

The lawsuit, which also names Roundtree, Bolton and Silsbee school officials, was filed by Houston-based attorney Larry Watts.

The 16-year-old accused in the assault was not named in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims that Sheffield did not pursue the case vigorously enough, and that school officials pressured her to cheer for Bolton at basketball games and excluded her from the squad when she refused.

The lawsuit states that Sheffield told the girl's parents before the grand jury met that the grand jury was racially divided and that the black members of the jury would not return an indictment against Roundtree and Bolton, who are black, because of the race factor.

The girl's father asked Sheffield to postpone presenting the case to a grand jury because of the race factor, the lawsuit claims.

Sheffield has previously told The Enterprise that he believes the lawsuit is an attempt to bully him into manipulating the grand jury process and that he does not believe any actions should be taken that do so.